Bill Simmons Praises TrueHoop

Mottram: Do you have any favorites out there that you'd like to mention and put a little thrill into the heart of sports bloggers everywhere?

Simmons: The thing about me and blogs is, I try to avoid people who write from the same vantage point as me, just because it screws me up, or I might see a joke that I hadn't formed in my head yet and think oh damn, I wish I had said that or thought of that. So I actually try to avoid them. It's part of my writing process. I'll go to information sites. I'll read people like Peter Vecsey and Sam Smith--people who I can learn stuff from. Even the Peter King Monday Morning Quarterback. It's nothing against blogs it's just, it screws me up and especially if I read and think damn it why didn't I think of that? I've had this system that I've had basically since '97 and I didn't want to deviate from it. But I think there's a lot of good ones. In terms of the blog that I think is the best at maximizing the potential that's out there, it probably is TrueHoop, because he's assimilating a lot of different information, and if you want to know about the NBA you can say all right I can go here, and any major column or story that I need to read he's going to have. He does a good job of mixing his opinions in with the stuff, and he really doesn't go after people. I think that's a mistake that a lot of people make, because they try to get read by attacking other writers and attacking other blogs, and I'm not sure that works. I think people will read you if you're coming up with interesting stuff and you're funny or you're creative or you're a good writer or you have a ton of information.

(Mottram follows with an excellent point about how TrueHoop doesn't have enough dick jokes...)